Nissan and Mitsubishi will work together under new electric minicar

The Japanese companies (Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and their joint venture NMKV Co., Ltd) signed an agreement on planning and development of electric minicars.

According to the agreement, the brand-new vehicle will be more competitive product than Nissan’s and Mitsubishi’s previous vehicles (companies hope to achieve this by optimizing resource allocation and their respective roles and responsibilities).

In a way of example, Nissan will be more deeply involved in development operations, such as design development and testing while NMKV will strengthen its management capabilities by adding a new department to enhance collaboration with engineering and manufacturing functions.

Vehicle production is planned to continue at Mitsubishi's Mizushima Plant.

A few words about joint venture NMKV

Nissan and Mitsubishi established NMKV in June 2011 to specialize in planning and development of minicars. Their jointly-developed minicars, the Nissan Dayz and the Mitsubishi eK Wagon, were launched in June 2013, followed by the launch of theNissan Dayz Roox and the Mitsubishi eK Space in February 2014. By the end of September 2015, total sales of vehicles produced under the joint project reached 500,000 units, a testament to the success of the collaboration.

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Fertile cooperation

Both companies hope that this new agreement will take their partnership to a higher level.

Hiroto Saikawa, Nissan CCO said: “Nissan’s deeper involvement in development operations for next generation minicars will enable the easier application of advanced safety and eco-friendly technologies in larger vehicles. This new opportunity will enable us to deliver even more competitive vehicles to consumers by enhancing our product and lineup, by strengthening our partnership and combining the expertise of both companies.”

Mitsubishi President and COO Tetsuro Aikawa mentioned “For Mitsubishi, minicars are a key segment that accounts for more than half of our total sales in Japan. By combining each other’s strengths through NMKV, we will continue to introduce attractive products to the market. Producing the new models at our Mizushima Plant, after the current model production ends, will help us further accelerate the improvement activities on which the three companies have been working together in the areas of production costs, efficiency and quality, and this will lead us to introduce more competitive products.”

NMKV President and CEO Junichi Endo remarked: “This new agreement shows that our efforts are making steady progress and thus the collaboration will further deepen. We are taking the lead in this project by combining Mitsubishi’s know-how in minicar development and manufacturing with Nissan’s technologies.”

Moreover, planning and development of an electric minicar is in progress through the collaboration.

Well, seems like companies are dealing quite good.

Let’s wish them good luck and wait more news from them.

*The announcement of vehicle details and launch timing of the EV and other next-generation minicars will be made at a later time.